Shopping.com Loss Widens to $7.7 Million in 2nd Quarter
Shopping.com said its loss in the second fiscal quarter swelled to $7.7 million, and the struggling Internet retailer’s cash on hand shrank to $1 million.
The company said it wasn’t able to file its quarterly report on time with the Securities and Exchange Commission because of problems with its new accounting software. It disclosed the loss late Tuesday in its request to the SEC for more time to file the report.
The company lost $724,737 in the year-earlier quarter ended July 31, and $5.5 million in the year ended Jan. 31. It didn’t provide figures for per-share loss or revenue for the most recent quarter.
Shopping.com’s stock closed Wednesday at $2, down 13 cents a share. The shares are trading about 95% below the 52-week high of $39 set March 19. Shopping.com sold 1.3 million shares in an initial public offering Nov. 25.
The second quarter’s loss included a $2.75-million charge for issuing below market-price stock options on June 1, and a charge of $660,000 related to the termination and buyout agreements of its former chief executive, Robert McNulty, and other management.
McNulty got an $83,000-a-year raise when he quit. He received a $258,000-a-year consulting contract to replace his $175,000 salary as CEO.
Since March, the Securities and Exchange Commission has been investigating possible stock manipulation by Shopping.com and Waldron & Co. of Irvine, which was the principal market maker in its shares. Waldron, which brought the Internet retailer public, stopped making a market in the stock last month.
